Get Smart 8 - Max Smart Loses Control by William Johnston Read Free Book Online Page B

the ground, 99?”
    “Yes, Max.”
    “Well, it’s good to get resentments out of your system, you know, 99. If I kept it inside me, all bottled up, I might, in time, become a bitter old man.”
    “Max, if I have to listen to much more, I suspect that, sooner than that, I’m going to become a bitter old woman.”
    “Sorry, 99.”
    “That’s all right, Max. Just—”
    At that moment, Hymie called to them. He was holding a scrap of computer tape. “I think I found something,” he said. He showed the tape to Max and 99. On it was printed the letters: AU.
    “You certainly did find something,” Max said. “Now throw it away, Hymie, and let’s keep looking for clues.”
    “But I think this is a clue,” Hymie said. “My guess is that while Number One was being taken away she was thinking to herself—for want of something to do—and this is what she was thinking.”
    “Au?” Max replied. “That’s thinking? I doubt it very much, Hymie. Maybe Means and Ways were feeding her information too fast and she was gagging.”
    “No,” Hymie said. “Au means—”
    “Or maybe one of them was standing on her foot,” Max suggested.
    “Max, Number One doesn’t have a foot. I’m sure this is what she had on her mind. It’s like her. She probably overheard Ways and Means say where they were going to take her and she was mulling it over. She plays a little game sometimes when she’s bored. The word association game.”
    “What place could she possibly associate with Au?” Max asked.
    “Fort Knox,” Hymie replied.
    Max snickered. “Did you get that, 99? Hymie thinks Number One associated Au with Fort Knox.”
    “He might very well be right, Max,” 99 replied. “Au is the symbol for gold, you know. And gold and Fort Knox sure are a good match.”
    “Oh,” Max said. “Well, of course, I knew all along that Au is the symbol for gold. But, Fort Knox? That may have been a good match a few decades ago, but today, when you ask yourself, ‘where’s the money,’ the answer is not Fort Knox. It’s Las Vegas.”
    99 thought for a second. “You might be right, Max,” she decided.
    “I think of Fort Knox,” Hymie said.
    “All that proves is how square you are,” Max told him. “Just consider for a moment, Hymie. If you were Means and Ways, and you had to take a computer somewhere to keep her out of sight while you brainwashed her, which would it be, Fort Knox or Las Vegas? The answer, obviously, is Las Vegas. There’s no night life in Fort Knox, you know, Hymie.”
    “What does that have to do with brainwashing a computer, Max?”
    “I haven’t the faintest idea. But you can be sure that when we find Means and Ways that’s one of the first questions I’ll ask them. Now, is it settled? Shall we go to Las Vegas?”
    “Fort Knox,” Hymie said.
    “How about Fort Knox by way of Las Vegas?” Max suggested.
    “Fort Knox—straight,” Hymie said.
    “You know, Hymie,” 99 said, “Max could very well be right about Las Vegas.”
    “I could?” Max said, surprised.
    “I’m a woman,” 99 said to Hymie, “and when I think of gold, I think of Las Vegas, too. And, don’t forget, Number One is a female. Why don’t we do this? Why don’t you go to Fort Knox and Max and I will go to Las Vegas?”
    “That’s good computing, 99,” Hymie replied. “We’ll do that.”
    From the candy factory they went to the airport. There, Max and 99 got a plane for Las Vegas and Hymie took a flight to Fort Knox. A few hours later, Max and 99 checked into a large hotel in Las Vegas, and not long after that, at Max’s suggestion, they went to the hotel’s gambling casino.
    “What now, Max?” 99 asked. “I don’t see either Ways or Means anywhere around.”
    “They’ll show up,” Max said confidently. “I think I’ve got it all figured out, 99. Remember?—that blonde told us that Means and Ways were making a profit on that candy factory. It’s my guess that they were using it to finance this operation. But,